out of shape

2/12/07-2/16/07

            So we have moved on from Culebra but it was a great few days in paradise Immediately we fell in love with the quant island of Culebra.  It has all the resources one could reach for at arms reach but they all are masked in island flavor.  There are no KFCs here or Wal-Mart’s like there were on Puerto Rico.  The Dingy Dock restaurant and the small boutiques that line the streets are ample substitutes.  We spent the first couple days spear fishing on some of the surrounding islands.  The fruits of which provided two great meals for the ten of us, one on board Aurora and one on Kaleidoscope.  We were skeptical about how easily ten people would eat on board our 37 foot home but everything proceeded with out a hitch.  The lobster was succulent and the fish fried professionally in butter.  More importantly the drinks were cold with ice provided by Paul and Nancy from Aurora.  The night took an unexpected turn when the 151 was broken into, the culmination of which left Dan, Brad and I blowing fire for the humor of the group. 

            The other three boats took the ferry back to mainland Puerto Rico on the 14^th and we decided to head over to Flamenco Beach.  We took a 2 dollar bus ride over to one of the top beaches in the world.  I haven’t checked the reports but apparently the beach is routinely ranked in the top five beaches in the world.  The sand there supported the claim.  It was the finest sand I have ever experienced.  Dan put it best when he said that it is as if they took a regular beach and ground all the sand up again.  One of the more interesting features of the beach is that it used to be used by the US for Amphibious assault training.  There are old rusted tanks and personnel carriers right on the beach.  It is amazing that a beach of such beauty could be used for years by the military for training and its beauty lost to all in red tape.  We stayed too late and missed our ride back into town.  Luckily, Anika’s charm enabled us to hitch a ride back to our dingy.  The four of us crammed into the back seat of a jeep wrangler.  Being Valentines Day we thought it only proper to eat out at the dingy dock.  Anika won a free bottle of wine in their promotional Valentines day raffle.  Of course. 

            Not fully knowing what we were getting into we set out on bikes the following day to go beaching.  Maybe I am out of shape, maybe it was the rental bikes, no it was definitely my being out of shape, but the bike ride we went on was extremely grueling.  The hills aren’t that high in elevation on Culebra but the roads traverse them in manner that maximizes the elevation changes.  Up, down, up, down, the entire way.  And it was hot, very hot.  We ended up walking up the worst of them.  Our legs were like Jello after the trip.  We left our bikes at the top of the last hill, knowing that we would just have to walk up the hill with our bikes anyway.  The beach was beautiful and the water ohh so refreshing.  Not as beautiful as Flamenco but less crowded and offering a great experience as well.  The way back was not as tough but beers were more than welcome at the finish.

            The 16^th we headed out in the morning to Culebritta, a small island only miles off of Culebra. We picked up a newly installed mooring ball on the west coast of the island.  When I say newly installed, I mean the workers installing them were right next to us working on the next ball.  There were nice coral but no fish of separable size and the swell enticed us to leave for the main harbor on the north.